![[Replay] Marketing Your Therapy Practice with Ross Herosian Artwork](https://www.buzzsprout.com/rails/active_storage/representations/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBCTlpMbXdZPSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--ddc6fc7bd6c1f9a15811435f4c70e4370652fbe1/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaDdDVG9MWm05eWJXRjBPZ2hxY0djNkUzSmxjMmw2WlY5MGIxOW1hV3hzV3docEFsZ0NhUUpZQW5zR09nbGpjbTl3T2d0alpXNTBjbVU2Q25OaGRtVnlld1k2REhGMVlXeHBkSGxwUVRvUVkyOXNiM1Z5YzNCaFkyVkpJZ2x6Y21kaUJqb0dSVlE9IiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJ2YXJpYXRpb24ifX0=--1924d851274c06c8fa0acdfeffb43489fc4a7fcc/CRAIG%20DACY.jpg)
The Therapy Business Podcast
We know how challenging growing a therapy practice can be, and don’t think it should require an accounting degree just to run your business. If you own a solo or a group practice, we’re here to help you build a business that creates more time, makes more money and serves more people.
The Therapy Business Podcast
[Replay] Marketing Your Therapy Practice with Ross Herosian
We're replaying one of our most downloaded episodes from 2024!
Unlock the secrets to effective marketing for therapy practices with insights from our guest, Ross Herosian of Tricycle Creative. Ross brings his expertise as a marketing coach to the table, offering invaluable guidance to solopreneurs and small business owners who find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Discover how Ross acts as the "training wheels" for practice owners, helping them navigate the complexities of marketing to attract the right clients and ensure their practices not only survive but thrive.
Meet with one of our coaches
*Intro/outro song credit:
King Around Here by Alex Grohl
Most practice owners struggle when it comes to marketing themselves or their business. I mean, it's not something they really teach you when you're getting your degree, and it can feel uncomfortable trying to focus on sales and bringing clients in. It can feel almost counterintuitive or selfish or self-serving. Well, it's super important that we put ourselves out there in a way that can draw people in, that can get people the help that they need, and we wanna make sure we're doing it in the right ways. Today, I invited my friend, Ross Hiroshin, the owner of Tricycle Creative, to come in and talk to us about ways to market yourself and your practice so that you can draw in more people and the right kinds of people.
Speaker 1:My name is Craig and I'm the CEO of Desi Financial Coaching. Our goal is simple and I'm the CEO of Desi Financial Coaching. Our goal is simple to help you run a therapy practice that is permanently profitable. If you own a solo or group practice, we're here to help you build a business that creates more time, makes more money and serves more people. This is the Therapy Business Podcast. Ross Hiroshin, thank you so much for joining on the pod. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm excited. This is exciting for me, excited huh, as someone who works with you.
Speaker 1:You don't even know that you're going to get the third degree today. I wouldn't get two. This is a God piece.
Speaker 2:This podcast existing is proof positive to everyone out there that if you guilt someone enough, that perhaps something can be done. Now I don't know if that's the best marketing message to put out there, but just just guilt them to be hiring you is. You know, you're probably right, probably not the way to start with the therapists out there, but it is true. It took me about a year and a half. This is always on your radar and I'm very happy that this is a thing that I'm also honored to uh to be a part of it.
Speaker 1:Well, awesome I'm. I'm glad you had. You've been pushing me for a couple of years now to start a podcast. So here we are, to our tens of listeners out there coming into your phones and earbuds. Ross, tell them I know who you are, but give us just a little couple of minutes snapshot into who you are, what you do about your business, Tricycle, Creative, everything.
Speaker 2:That'd be a strange choice to have me on if you didn't know who I was. Yeah, who are you?
Speaker 1:How did you end up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my name is Ross Erosion. I am the founder of Tricycle Creative and what I do is I'm a marketing coach for usually what I call solopreneurs. So those people who have started their business are, you know, sometimes and oftentimes doing everything in the business, and marketing is one of those things that, more often than not, these people struggle with. And what I do is quite simply and why I call my company Tricycle Creative is really come in and create the training wheels so help to grow my clients' knowledge, expertise, know-how.
Speaker 2:I know people out there may be saying, well, I'm never going to be a marketing expert and I don't come in with that expectation, but marketing is a pivotal aspect of any business and having an understanding of that is really important. And in many cases, what I do is work with a lot of what I call junior marketers. More often than not, hired someone fresh out of college because they're creative, they I'm using air quotes now, no social media right and, let's be honest, they tend to be cheaper. Um, but the problem is is those, uh, those hires can be tricky because if, if, if, you're not the captain of the marketing ship, you're not really sure how to lead it properly, and so that's the gap that I feel. I come in and I, I, um, train up junior marketers, I expand their skills, I implement strategy from my at this point, oh, my God decades of experience of marketing. My God, that makes me sound old saying that, um, and and so I help fill expertise gaps for small businesses and solo printers. Love it, I love doing it.
Speaker 1:Good, I think, and you know, the clients we work with in the therapy world are either typically small group practices you know, in less than 5 million a year in revenue, and we also work with a ton of single therapists who are wanting to become group practice owners. But typically in either of those buckets the business owner is one running the show with the marketing. They are trying to do all of it. They don't. No one teaches you when you go to get your, your degree and you get licensed. It's no one's like oh, and here's how you promote and create content and get yourself out there.
Speaker 2:Here's how you create a post in WordPress.
Speaker 1:Exactly, no one tells you that, and so I think there's a lot of discomfort there. Therapists typically become therapists because they have a passion for the work of therapy, and marketing is just one of those. Just like I've loved coaching people, it wasn't. I didn't get into this cause I'm like, yeah, I really want to get on sales calls and and promote myself, so I think it can be a foreign thing. And then, even to your point, as they grow and get bigger, I've seen a lot of group practice owners hire out those junior marketers or hire out somebody and put their full faith in them and spend a lot of money on it and then just are frustrated because they don't understand what's going on. They don't see any fruits from their labor. They feel like they're shelling out money and it's not doing anything.
Speaker 2:So there's a huge element in all of that around the and I hear this a lot on sales calls and conversations I have is that you don't know what you don't know when it comes to marketing and that same could be said of me of therapy, being a therapist Anything that's outside of your realm of knowledge. When you come into it, you're acknowledging even the blind spots. I know I don't know SEO, but there's a whole world of stuff that I don't even know exists. I don't even know what it is Right, and so that very often is an aspect of the first call, the, the initial conversations I have with business owners, you know um, is, more often than not, they, they don't know where to start, and that's always been my, really just my guiding principle of starting Tricycle Creative is providing, because I, you know, I spoke with enough entrepreneurs over the years where I kept hearing the same thing you thing, I kept hearing that they didn't know where to start. I kept hearing that, understandably, they didn't have the expertise, they didn't have the knowledge, they didn't have the skill set. I kept hearing the same things over and over again and I guess, like any good marketer, when you hear that, you create a solution, and so that solution is something that actually you and I did when, when we started, and that's my uh marketing clarity program and that is like the number one starting place for small businesses.
Speaker 2:Um, that the dozens and dozens I've worked with over the years is you. You don't know, you can you? You don't know, you can't figure out where to spend money, you can't figure out where to spend resources and, most importantly, you can't figure out where to spend your energy If you don't have a plan right. I like to tell people, yes, we all know there's only so many hours in the day, but what a lot of people don't realize is there's only so much energy that you have in the day, and oftentimes it is less than the eight hours of work Right, I probably have, if I'm being honest, probably about five to five and a half hours of good energy in a day to work. I do Listen, I'm going to own it.
Speaker 2:There's like two to three hours in there where I'm like I can get stuff done. But oh, sometimes it's a little tough, you know, and I think that understanding that and understanding that, particularly with marketing, is going to be something that they're not familiar with. There's a learning curve. You don't know what to do. I mean, if you're applying those hours to something you know and you love, flies by. But then if you apply I have to apply some of it to time that, like you're struggling, or you don't know what to do, of course you're going to get frustrated. Of course, and I and so many of my clients come to me after hitting that frustration point where it's like I tried this, I tried this. I'm really frustrated and you know, my thing is, it's just cause you didn't start properly, you know. I mean, you know this.
Speaker 2:I have an almost two year old son and it's just, it's kind of like teaching him to ride a bike by literally just putting him on a bicycle and just pushing him and when he falls over and be like, well, why didn't that work? What the hell? Like you, this is never going to work. That's what a lot of marketers and small businesses, their approach to marketing, is. They, they try to jump right on, particularly with ads, and it doesn't work. And then they're like marketing doesn't work. It's like, well, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater there. I think the approach didn't work.
Speaker 1:Are you sick of the overwhelm that comes with managing the finances in your practice? What if you could have a clear picture of where your money's going, pay yourself what you truly deserve and have a rock-solid game plan to grow your practice without the financial stress? Well, that's exactly what our Profit Coaching Program is designed to do. We specialize in helping practices like yours achieve financial clarity so that you can focus on what you do best helping your clients and managing your team while we help handle all that business-y stuff that they didn't teach you in grad school. Our profit coaching program is enrolling new practices right now. We'll walk with you as you create a financially healthy and sustainable practice To see if you might be a good fit.
Speaker 1:Schedule a free consultation at therapybusinesspodcom Right, yeah, and it. You know and it's to that credit too the ads and things they could. It takes a lot of money and a lot of patients, and you know there's especially for the single, the solo therapist out there. That's, that's not what you have a lot of. And even as therapy owners you're talking about that energy you have in a day, I mean what even from solo to group practices, most of the time we're seeing them it's like they're still doing 20 to 25 sessions a week, and so they are meeting with clients, and that's where the best energy should be going, right, craig?
Speaker 2:Like I get it Like it should be going to their clients.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, yeah, and the goal is eventually, hopefully, to build your business in a way that you don't have to see clients and you have a team of therapists under you and they're they're seeing the clients and you're able to kind of shift out so you can focus your energy on these bigger picture things.
Speaker 1:But in the meantime, I mean and that's what I think we're going to dig into today is some strategies for people who are, I guess, trying to get out there, and I'm a believer I know you're a believer because I went through your program in content marketing, creating content that's valuable to bridge to the audience. I've always been a believer in it. Just in the sense of creating that relational piece of people getting to know your personality. Whether they're reading something you wrote or whether they're watching a video that you're on, they can make that relational connection which, in therapy, is so, so incredibly important when somebody is hiring to find someone to have that connection with. I found my therapist because he has a podcast and I listened to him for a few episodes and I was like, okay, this seems like a guy that I could chat with.
Speaker 2:You got to tell me that podcast, so then I can listen when he airs your dirty laundry.
Speaker 1:I do listen to it sometimes and you're like and he'll go. I have this client and I'm like, oh, oh, no, no, it's not me, okay.
Speaker 2:Before we jump into the marketing stuff, there is one thing I just want to say yeah, just jumping off a point you made about and this is something, obviously that is what your business focuses on is helping the therapy businesses grow and scale Right, and and and just, you know, um, I just want to say for anyone out there listening to this, because you might be on the fence about hiring Craig Craig, uh, proof is in the pudding. Like, I've worked with you now for maybe two or three years and it's been. I don't even know if I ever said this to you, so I wait for your podcast to air this. It's just been so amazing to see your business grow, um, truly, like when we started, I think you were that solopreneur. I was, and, yeah, and your business now has grown tremendously over the years and year, over the years and year. It's just been amazing to watch.
Speaker 2:So I really did not want to let this podcast go by without saying to the listeners out there who are, you know, contemplating hiring Craig um, at the very least, you need to have a conversation with him, because I can tell you he knows how to do this. I've seen it firsthand and I've worked with a lot of businesses, a lot of businesses that have not had nearly the success, but also the discipline and growth that you have. So, with that, all being said, someone's kind of on your knee here.
Speaker 1:Hold on.
Speaker 2:I'm getting a little teary eyed. Let's let's jump back into marketing we were talking about. You know, one thing that I had mentioned to you we were planning for this podcast is that the yes, the I, the content marketing piece, talking all about that, and you had said that was definitely something you wanted to hit on. And you know, I think, if, if you are wondering, um, how to do, uh, marketing and what to do, um, one of the simplest ways to put this, but by is not the simplest way to do it, but it all, marketing now is content. I look at everything as content. I'm a content marketer, right, like this idea that content marketing and marketing exists somehow separately. It's not the case.
Speaker 2:Marketing now is content, is creating content. And whether that content is in the form of and we're going to, I know, we're going to talk about this but in the form of a video or a blog or a podcast or even a sales materials, even how you conduct a sales call, right, that's something that I myself had to hone over the years when I started my business. I'd never done like sales calls before, right, I had to hone that. But guess what? That is really an extension of marketing and, one might argue, the most intense or most important one, because you're talking to someone one-to-one right. So putting together proposals, guess what?
Speaker 2:Marketing? Yeah, I mean everything I look at as marketing because it is saying something about you and it is. It is putting in the mind of your prospect or your existing customer, you know, positioning you in their head. Is this someone I want to work with? Is this someone I enjoy working with? Is this someone I want to continue to work with? So you know, as we delve into the conversation today, I just think that's important, that you know, you do think about that, that marketing really is kind of every piece of your messaging, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense of your messaging right. Yeah, that makes sense. And I don't think, even with your current client base, as you're saying, that I'm like okay, so even just delivering on your, your commitments, is marketing, because you're you know, yeah, providing quality therapy to your clients is marketing in the sense of you're going to keep those clients coming back and telling their friends.
Speaker 2:It's the follow-up of marketing, it's the fulfillment, yeah Right, like anyone can put claims out there, but you know, the important aspect of those claims continuing to work and you not being a fraud is that you deliver on those things yeah right, um, otherwise that marketing is going to run out at some point so true, and you in jail, depending on the severity of it I think that, yep, there's a lot of faux pas, a lot of lines you could cross, especially in the therapy world.
Speaker 1:Um, tell me about a couple strategies. So when we talked, there was two boxes almost that you put marketing into, to simplify it in a way. So what are those two strategies and tell me about them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, I think one of the biggest things when I start working with clients is how overwhelming digital marketing is Right. Again, one of the first things that I do with many first-time clients is actually walk them through a course that I call the digital marketing order of operations, and it is something that I put together for small business owners and solopreneurs that helps them understand really like where to start right, because if you do them out of order, that is where you may have your failure sooner. Also, I think you kind of mentioned this Listen, when you first start, you may not have the money to do some of these things. So there's and there, I know you know this, but like the way I teach and coach, it's what's the? I'm trying to think of the compounding interest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, so what that means is like, okay, as your, your money just continues to grow and grow and grow over, like previously learned knowledge, and so I start with the basics and then, before you know it, when we've moved up several levels, you've expanded on that Right, and so I think, as we kind of talk through all these strategies, I the two boxes that I tend to kind of put things into is kind of a push and a pull, yeah, and so a push strategy are strategies that put your messaging and content in front of online audiences, who may already be aware of you, right? So this could be a email, if you have an email marketing list, right? And when you first start out, some of those may just be your friends and family right let's be real.
Speaker 2:Mine were too. My open rate was so high Like everyone was opening my real Mine were too.
Speaker 1:My open rate and my check-in rate were so high. Everyone was opening my emails. I was like what is this industry standard of 10% or whatever it was? I'm like I'm getting 100% open rate.
Speaker 2:You get texts from your parents like that was a great email.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, every time. Do you want to hire me?
Speaker 2:I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:Thanks for nothing. You're not my target market, mom. Thanks for that.
Speaker 2:It's true, that's true. I wouldn't hire, I wouldn't work with you anyways. So when we're talking about those push strategies again like that's the email marketing and also that's the organic social media, so those are people who are already following you on social media and that's all social media. I think, for the sake of this conversation, I'm not going to differentiate too much, but it's you know, whatever platform that it may be people who have decided to follow you to get more updates. There's a great book I hope I'm not wrong on this. I want to say it's Seth Godin. It's called Permission Marketing. Really great.
Speaker 2:Seth Godin is a very accessible writer for people who want to learn more about marketing, very accessible. There's components of his teachings that I bring into a lot of my coaching. But and the idea that if someone kind of makes this decision to gives you permission to message them, that's a big step and I think people don't acknowledge how big of a deal that is. Right, we take it for granted. Right, we take it for granted, um, but the whole concept there, when you think about it is, is like yes, I've given you permission to show up on my timeline with my friends and family so by subscribing or following or something they're saying.
Speaker 1:Yes, I want, like you, have permission to show up in my feed yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Or show up in my inbox, or put something in my mailbox if you're, you know, like, like they're, they're giving you. They not only are giving you the permission, but they're they're also saying I'm uh. So those are the two, by no means um exclusive, but those are the biggest ones. The email marketing, organic social especially with organic social, let's be real, that tends to be the first place most small businesses go to. It's most accessible right. May not be the most, may not generate the most return on investment but that's probably a topic for a different day but it's the most accessible, right. So those are the push strategies. The pull strategies are those that put your messaging and content in front of online audiences who are in need of or could use your services, and they may not even be aware yet that they need or could use your service. I mean perfect example how many impulse buys have you made from instagram even this month? Craig, probably a lot. I know I have.
Speaker 1:It's like, I'm like oh, all of a sudden I need this, you know I totally uh last last week very impulse buy, uh got an instagram ad for making instagram like reels and tiktok reels listen, I'm a sucker for those two. It was only like 30 bucks or so. I was like, ah, 30 bucks, it's like all right, I signed up and I got halfway through it and I was like dang it I'm the biggest.
Speaker 2:I'm the biggest sucker for like creative assets stuff Also, I really am. So just learn from us If you're listening. I've made a couple of my one like my one and just know if your experience with the one is kind of meh, I don't really know if it's going to be that much better with the other ones you buy. They're very, all very similar you know very.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I bring that up because when we're talking about putting your messaging content in front of online audiences who are in need of your services but don't know who you are, oftentimes, that is an ads mechanism, right? So that's going to be Google ads and social ads. Now, when you look at Google ads, what's the value there? The value of Google ads is that you've at least the person is seeing your ad, because they have, at the very least, if we're doing a search campaign, put in a search term that is in some way relevant to your business, right, it's almost like they've. They've almost like stepped foot in the door and they're looking around, does that?
Speaker 1:make sense.
Speaker 2:Right, they've, they've taken some step, as little as it may be, but they're saying I'm curious about this, right? Um, so that is, an advantage of a search ad is that you do get an audience. That is, even if it's one step further down. They're a little bit further down in in the classic marketing funnel, right, going from knowing nothing about you to buying from you.
Speaker 1:Cause they're looking for what you're. They're looking for therapists. If they're searching, and that's why you're showing up. Versus like if you're running an ad for females from the age of 25 to 32 and it's prominent, whether they're looking for therapy or not, you might catch a few who are like oh yeah, I've been meaning to get a therapist, but some of them may not be. Versus Google. It's like that person is typing in therapists in Texas and, lo and behold, you pop up.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a very important distinction between Google search. Again, this is going to be a whole nother show about very specific ad structures which make note. I'm happy to do that show with you also, Craig. But Google ads at their simplest when we're talking about search Someone's searched and then that's what generates the ads, and then that's what generates the ads. On the social side of things, how they generally function is they take your kind of indirect signals.
Speaker 1:They steal your data.
Speaker 2:They send a weather balloon in to take all your data and then that's a's. There is a huge and that's not to say google is innocent of that either but there's a huge component of the way that they generate behind the scenes using their algorithm. You know, um, who gets served these ads is using their proprietary billions, millions to billions points of data on on your um interactions and activities, not only on their website, but across the web, right? So, for example, I think you, you just made a good distinction. So let's stay with the therapy example, uh, because obviously that makes the most sense for the audience here. On a google ads front, yes, if I go and search like, uh, you know, therapy practice in, uh, austin, texas, right, okay, well, that would launch, you know, if I'm running a campaign for therapy practices and it's, and I'm looking at Austin, but, okay, there's, like in the mechanics, a chance, my ad would show up.
Speaker 2:Social ads could operate in the way that uh maybe they are following online therapy brands like better help or what have you right. Maybe they're following one of those. Maybe they, um, you know, um, they I mean it couldn't even go as deep as just kind of maybe posting a whole number of posts that are seemingly sad. The thing is, is that you can't, we don't know? We know a good amount, right, but let's say that this person is following a bunch of like, um, inspirational, but also um, like again, those online therapy, um, uh, things.
Speaker 2:Maybe they've actually done a search which is not as common, but a search, those online therapy things. Maybe they've actually done a search which is not as common, but a search inside of that platform. So, again, let's use meta. Maybe they've done a search in there and it's using those signals to then serve. If you have an ad for like hi, I'm, you know, dr, so-and-so, I'm a therapist, that kind of thing it would use those signals, along with what targeting information you get it to serve it up to them. So so it's more of a, it's more of a predictive work on the social side than with Google ads, where it is driven by a query.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Now, when we talk about the push and the pull and we talk about content, blogs and videos can actually exist in both places. You'll notice I left them out because they can be utilized in either strategy, right? So, for example, a push strategy with organic social media obviously, you could create a video and share it on organic social media. Mm-hmm, you could also use that very same video in an ad. Yeah, right, so so. And the same with a blog. Right, you could write a blog, and maybe it's you know, um, whatever your particular area of expertise is on, you could write that blog. You could, uh, publish it on your website. So there we are, talking a little bit of of SEO. So SEO would fall mostly into a poll, arguably, because it would be someone that's doing a search and you would come in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the goal is to get in front of people who are not already following you with SEO Correct.
Speaker 2:Correct. Yeah, it's, it's you're. You're looking to serve it up to people who are, yeah, don't know about you, but but are interested in something, so the blog can show up there. But you could also include that blog in your email marketing campaign.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right. Or you have people who just regularly come and read your blog every Friday because they know you're going to post something new.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Right. So I think that you want to look at blogs and videos as being, um, you know, uh, really flexible and for most of these, particularly nowadays, uh, you're gonna need both. You're gonna especially need video yeah right, like video. Is it like the days of saying, oh guess what Video is big? It's like that, it's like yeah.
Speaker 1:Especially I mean, just like we were talking about earlier in such a relationship based industry as therapy, when somebody is looking for their therapist and I always go back to that process. I mean I was looking for a long time simply because I could be filtering through psychology today, I could be reading about these people, but I just it's like it's this overwhelm of I don't know who to go with and so being able to, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2:the podcast you listen to also gives you a sense of who that person you're working with is.
Speaker 1:Yes, very much. Yeah, their personality, their just you know how they feel. As far as approachability, areas of expertise, you know, on a website you can list the areas that you focus on. But there's also just something different about making that connection. What I do as a coach with business owners is very relational. There's so many times I'll get on a sales call with a potential client and they've watched our YouTube videos and they see the same background, they see everything and that connection and that level of trust is already there because, even though I've never spoken to them before, they've consumed you have, but that's the thing you have.
Speaker 2:And and I think that's what's really interesting is I've had that situation too, where I've had people who came to me after seeing me or on a video or hearing me in a podcast and yeah, I mean, I think it's. They get a sense for who I am and I think also a sense for how I work. And this is one of those things when I work with small businesses and this might be slightly different for the therapy business owners out there, but maybe not I'm sure this applies is there are some prospective clients that they wanted to hire me but I turned them away. And it's a weird thing when I talk to other small business owners, particularly when they're just starting out this idea of doing that, but I always take the approach that this has to be a right fit for both of us, particularly as a coach. Now, I am not a therapist, but there's a certain irony to it, I would say, is that in my coaching role, there are absolutely elements of being like a marketing therapist for people.
Speaker 2:They're frustrated, they're confused, they're happy. They don't know what to do, they don't know what direction to go, they don't know how to deal with this. This you know, and again, far be it, I have all the respect in the world for therapists and the education and work that you've put in, so please don't misunderstand me to say that I should have a doctor.
Speaker 1:You're practicing without a license.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm not a licensed therapist, but I got to tell you, I have absolutely come out of meetings and I'm like that is as close to a therapy session as I've ever been in like to to like inspire someone and get them motivated.
Speaker 2:You know, it's, it's, it's something that I understand and, and I guess I just I say that to say it, if someone has a particular issue, right, and maybe that's not your area of expertise, I think you could probably relate and understand that maybe I'm not going to be doing the best, the best service to this person, right, by taking them on, and I think that's an approach that can also apply, weirdly enough, even in marketing, right, I think, when we talk about a lot of people, they don't know where to start and, and you know, going way back I'm, I'm sure there's a conversation we had when we first started out. Is, well, what do you know how to do? And, honestly, is there anything you like doing? Yeah, most people, I'm going to say most. Maybe it's just because I'm projecting most people don't like writing blogs I used to.
Speaker 1:When I started I was. I loved writing them now really sure yeah, I hated them.
Speaker 2:I hate them. I didn't have a ton of clients.
Speaker 1:It's like I was looking for things to do to move my business forward and blogging was just like such an easy I say easy, but just a okay, great, yeah, I can create this and put it out there, but now it's a chore.
Speaker 2:But it's, but no one's. No two people are the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Some people really enjoy video. Some people enjoy podcasts, some people enjoy podcasts with a co-host, some people enjoy podcast solos, some people like social right Are you know, also really good in the community space. Community marketing is also a really big kind of it's been growing the last couple of years of having your own, like private communities, that kind of thing. So everyone's a little different and I think that's even the approach I take as a marketing coach is I don't come in with I rarely have ever come in being like I know exactly what we're going to do here.
Speaker 2:I let the process, like guide us, um and so. So yeah, I mean I think the push and pulls under just understanding how these strategies are different and at least doing understanding why it's like I wonder why my audience isn't growing or I wonder why they're not engaging here, or I wonder what you know. Sometimes it's about evaluating, like what things you're doing and the end intent of those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and the end intent of those things, yeah, yeah, and I think on. And this one last thing before we um, wrap it up but uh, with the poll strategies, you know, I know we talked a lot about the ads and but I mean I was just thinking through, as you're talking about, okay, like being a guest on someone's podcast is a poll strategy. You're getting in front of their audience, right. I mean it's being a speaker at a conference. Oh yeah, you know, even I'm wondering, because a lot of therapists are listed on psychology today. They pay for that opportunity, even just to be listed there. That's a pull strategy, even though it kind of feels like a one and done. I'll create my profile and I'll pay the monthly fee.
Speaker 2:But it's putting yourself out there for people who you want to hear. You want to hear a weird, you want to hear or a surprising? Maybe it's a little weird, I'm not really sure. I'm gonna tell you an anecdote. I like listed myself on my uh alumni page for my college Right, and I thought literally nothing about it.
Speaker 1:I was like why not Might as well? Cause I was like free Sure.
Speaker 2:Right and like two months later, someone contacted me that they saw my information on there and that person turned out to be like a massive client for like six months, like six months to a year. So you know that was a low level of effort. Right again took me zero and almost next to zero energy, but it did end up yielding a tremendous amount. Now, I'm not saying that every single little thing is going to do that, but you know, sometimes that stuff happens Right and, uh, I was shocked you know that that that did occur. But you're a hundred percent right, there are absolutely little things and maybe things you're already doing that you don't even know are attracting people for sure. So I think, on that note, one of the number one things that I do recommend people do and again, as we've been talking, I could probably think about 50 million other podcast ideas to bring to your audience. If you'll have me back it's hard to say, I'm difficult to work with, but is that creating your Google, my Business account?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:It is very low-hanging fruit, but it is one of the most potentially valuable like low level of effort to high potential rate of return things to do. So if you haven't done that, just do a Google search. Google my business, create your account. There are a million different things you can do in digital marketing.
Speaker 1:But that is one that I feel very strongly about that can yield a lot of benefits. Person like I can't get mine, like I can't reply to reviews anymore because they you have to have a physical office address and I don't, I don't have an office anymore.
Speaker 2:I now I'm completely office from home yeah, it's very surprising that of all companies and services, google has been kind of the slowest to move that along. But I think they are hesitant because they don't. They're very hesitant of their own little gardens or protective of their own little gardens, so they don't want it to be spam fest. Yeah that's why they're big on brick and mortar like oh, we have to. They literally mail you a confirmation. But if you, if you haven't done this yet, when you do it you'll find out.
Speaker 1:But I actually think they have updated that slightly yeah, I think one of them is like options I saw is like you can go outside and take a video where you have to. In the same video, you have to show the address number and then you have to go to a street sign and then you have to, like, show the building. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:Well, they're going to have to update that, probably with AI now, probably yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's, I have my Google, my Business. It's still doing awesome, we're still getting reviews, we're still getting a lot of searchability. So I'm glad I did it. But yeah, I've run into that road bump. I'm like I can't reply to anything, I can't post on it anymore, and I know there's a lot of virtual therapists out there another day, because I am sure there are workarounds there.
Speaker 2:And if you know anything about me, more often than not when you come to me and you're like this is not working or broken, I'm like all right, let me look into this, and usually I figure out some roundabout way of fixing it. So if I have any skillset, it is figuring out solutions to very, very specific, unique problems.
Speaker 1:Oh, all right, Liam Neeson. Well, tell us how people can find you if they have a specific problem that they need solved.
Speaker 2:Sure, well, I hope you'll include just the link to my website in this show. $500 dream Yep, it's a month, it's a goal.
Speaker 1:I've hundred If you just. We'll just auto charge you to keep that link live.
Speaker 2:Got it, got it, I'll, I'll, I'll, wire you the cash Um no, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Creativecom. You can also go to, uh, you can also go to getmarketingclaritycom to learn more about my clarity program. Now I will say this I am being incredibly selective with new clients I'm taking on right now because I do work with. I have some full-time commitments that have changed in the past couple years here, so I have a handful of clients. I'm very selective. That's not because I'm cool, it's literally because, back to the energy piece, I run out of energy as a new dad, I'm like asleep on the couch, I mean sometimes at like 730 at night. So, like you know, if I'm doing this, I want to make sure I'm doing. I'm being the best Ross and showing up for you, so, um, but if you do need help, um, or interested in learning more, uh, please head on over to my website. A lot, of, a lot of resources there.
Speaker 2:On my blog, I also have a podcast called the marketing clarity podcast. So, uh, you can check that out. Tons of episodes in the backlog there, um, and I'm trying to get back into being better about that, and you'll hear this other guy on that show pretty frequently too, unfortunately. So sorry, I cranked me on that show.
Speaker 1:I'm the dumb dumb on the show. All right, that's the three links I'll be dropping in the show notes. So I'll invoice you for all three of those. Ross, thank you so much for spouting some knowledge. Well, you'll be back, obviously, for sure, regularly, as a co-host. Today was I just wanted to pick your brain on what you know well, but I think sometimes you'll just be here kind of hanging with me and chatting business and marketing and money.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. Those are some of my favorite times are, yes, obviously, talking business, but you, you know, like I said, I, you know, like I said, I've enjoyed our ride together for sure.
Speaker 1:So I'm again very thankful to be here and thanks for giving me the opportunity. Thanks for joining us on the Therapy Business Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with a practice owner that you may know If your practice needs help getting organized with its finances or just growing your practice, head to therapybusinesspodcom to learn how we can help.
%20copy%202.jpg)